Skip to main content

The Fruitless Life? or The Fruitful Life?

"The Lord spoke His Word through the prophet Haggai" (Haggai 1:1). The prophet is only the messenger. It is the Lord who speaks His Word. God's Word challenges our way of thinking and our way of living. We say, "Everything is okay." God says, "Everything is not okay." There is a problem. God says to us, "Carefully consider your ways" (Haggai 1:5). Our way of thinking and living is self-centred. It should be God-centred (Haggai 1:4). When we respond to God's Word, He says to us, "I am with you" (Haggai 1:13). We are not left to do the work in our own strength. He gives us the strength that we need.
First, the Lord speaks to Haggai (Haggai 2:1). Then, Haggai speaks for God (Haggai 2:2). "The faithful few who returned from Babylon" (Haggai 2:2) - Even if we are few, let us remain faithful. God calls us to "be strong" (Haggai 2:4). He says to us, "Work, because I am with you" (Haggai 2:4). He gives us His strength. He calls us to use His strength in His service. God looks beyond what we are in ourselves. He looks on to what we will become through His strength. He says to us, "Is there any seed left in the barn? The vines, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree still haven't produced" - This is the fruitless life, the life that is lived in our own strength. "But from now on, I will bless you" - This is the fruitful life, the life that is lived in the strength of the Lord. For the work of the Lord to be established, there needs to be the tearing down of the work of man - "I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the power of nations. I will overthrow chariots and their riders, and the horses will fall along with their riders" (Haggai 2:22). When the work of Satan is torn down, the work of the Lord begins - "a new creation. All things have passed away. All things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Conversion

" ... Will you ... come and stand before Me in this house, which bears My Name, and say, We are safe" - safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears My Name become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord" (Jeremiah 7:8-11). “God demands a conversion of the mind and heart as the basis of peace and security (cf. Is 26:3), not the superstitious veneration of a stone building or a traditionally sacred site” ( R K Harrison , Jeremiah ).

Lord, we worship You in the place of worship ...

Psalm 48:1-14 Lord, we worship You in the place of worship – “Within Your Temple, we meditate on Your unfailing love.” Help us to go out from there, and play our part in seeing that Your praise “reaches to the ends of the earth” (Psalm 48:: 9-11). How will other people know of Your love, if we don’t tell them? How will they find their way to Your House, if we don’t invite them? When we share Your Word with others, help us to remember Your promise: “My Word … will not return to Me empty, but will … achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).

"In the beginning, God" (Genesis 1:1).

"In the beginning, God" (Genesis 1:1). Here, we are taken back to eternity, back to the eternal God. There is nothing beyond this. There is nothing beyond Him. "God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). He is the Lord of heaven and earth. The mention of heaven and earth in the Bible's opening verse sends our minds on from the beginning to the middle and the end of God's great Story of salvation. At the heart of this wonderful Story, there is Jesus Christ who came from heaven to earth for us. The Story moves on to the marvellous fulfilment of God's plan of salvation. The Lord Jesus will come to take us from earth to heaven to share with Him in the glory of eternal life.